Following the August recess, Congress will return to Washington in September. A priority on the legislative schedule will be consideration of a tax bill.

In a conference call this week, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Sander Levin (D-MI) discussed the fall schedule with reporters. He indicated that the House hopes the Senate will act first on a tax bill.

Chairman Levin affirmed the Democratic support for extending tax cuts for single persons with incomes of $200,000 ($250,000 for couples) in the forthcoming tax bill. House members have requested that the Joint Committee on Taxation analyze the effects on small businesses of allowing the top two brackets to return to 36% and 39.6%.

On August 25, 2010, Vice President Joe Biden expressed White House support for the same plan. He noted that extending the tax cuts for middle-income taxpayers and allowing the top two rates to increase would produce $700 billion in tax revenue over 10 years. Vice President Biden stated, "There's nothing populist about this. It's simple economics."

In the view of Biden, it is important to raise the top level of taxes because only 3% of small-business owners would pay the tax. In addition, the funds need to be used to help "small businesses and middle-class people."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has scheduled a series of votes for September 14 on a new tax bill. The bill will cover various tax provisions that impact small businesses. A tax bill to extend the middle-class tax rates may be considered later in the month by the Senate.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) continued to advocate an extension of all tax rates for 2011. He stated, "We will not solve our fiscal challenges until we cut spending and have real economic growth -- and we won't have real economic growth if we keep raising taxes on small businesses."

Rep. Boehner is also concerned about the new Form 1099 Information Reporting Requirements and the tax extenders. He suggests that Congress also should look carefully at the tax extenders to determine whether some of those provisions should not be enacted for 2010.

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